It had been a few hours since we had left sixth street, and we stood in front of the hollow that I was in the first place.
"I'll admit, seeing it from a distance is much better than up close." I said, feeling the shackles react strongly to the hollow in front of me.
"Yeah, some rich folks say that it's symbolic, an end to the old and birth to the new, something like that." Nicole waved her hand dismissively.
"But now's not the time to be philosophical, now's the time to be rich!" She clenched her fist, her foot on the front bumper of the car and raised her arm high.
"Yeah!" Billy did the same, his optics closed and his arms raised, Anby did the same, but with her face looking neutral, I could t tell is she was serious, or sarcastic.
"If we don't head in, we'll lose the strong box." This caused Nicole to panic at what I said, grabbing me by my collar and tossing me inside.
"Scout out the area then!" I soon passed through the black wall, feeling the space twist and bend.
Until I was standing on the ground with my own two feet, I stumbled forward and soon began to observe the area.
Nothing had changed when I had left, train tracks broken, subway carts tossed onto their sides.
Finally, the black crystals sprouting everywhere. However, the air itself felt normal, like I was back in the machine in the H.I.A.
"Eros, are you okay?!" Looking back, I saw the Bangboo that I saw, only this time, it was Belle who was speaking through it.
"I'm fine, I'm glad that you're worried about me." I chuckled, kneeling down and patting Belle.
"Of course I'd be worried about you, you don't have anything to use to protect yourself." She waved her little arms to the side, expressing her worry.
"Guess you can use this to re-negotiate with her later." I chuckled, Belle widen her eyes at my words and nodded.
"I'll see if I can have her pay you extra." Soon, the rest entered, with Nicole crossing her arms, her eyes didn't meet mine, but I could see her glancing at me, only to move her eyes away.
"S-sorry about tossing you inside, I wasn't thinking straight." She said, shuffling in place.
"Nicole, give it to him." Abby spoke, poking her from behind.
"Fine, here!" She then extended a flyer to me, on it, was a coupon for a free lunch for a couple.
"Um, thank you, but this is for couples only." Hearing this, Nicole blushed at what I said and snatched it, shoving another flyer in my hands.
"Here, t-this is the one I wanted to give you!" She said in a panic, on it, was a free coupon for a free drink.
I had to admit, I was surprised that she had something like this, but I then remembered about all the receipts she had in her car.
"Hey, you better not be thinking of something rude!" She pointed her finger in front of my face.
"N-no, it's not like that." I began. "I'm grateful for this, since I don't have any money as well.
Hearing this, Nicole's attitude changed, her frown now turned into a smile, while one of her hands was on her hips, while the other was covering her mouth.
"Of course, of course, why wouldn't you? It's only fair I treat my employeess fairly." She exclaimed as if she was making a motto.
"Okay, with that out of the way, let's get going, we're wasting time here." Belle spoke up, jumping up and down.
However, it was hard to take her seriously when she was controlling the bangboo. She looked more adorable if I had to admit.
"Fine, lead the way Phaethon." Belle nodded and began to do so, with the four of us following behind her.
"Oh, right, Billy, give him the present you got him." Billy then ran next to me, handing me a gift.
"I was able to get a good deal through some old friends of mine, it ain't much, but it'll at least help you protect yourself." He said.
Opening up the gift, was a gun, specifically, a pistol. The design was normal to me, sleek light, and with an extended magazine.
It even included extra ones, and a belt with holsters for each magazine.
Underneath it, was a holster that I can place it in, including a business card so I could order ammunition.
[Oh, looks like chiefs getting dangerous, watch etherials, he's coming in with the pumped up kicks! You humans are weird with that song.]
"Thank you, this'll do well for me to fight back." Bully formed what looked like a smile, pointing two finger guns at me.
"No worries, just helping out a fellow employe, even if it's temporary." He said, however the kind atmosphere was ruined when ethereal's appeared before us.
"You guys know the drill, Anby, up front with me, Billy and Eros, covering fire!" Nicole shouted and ran forward, with Anby in tow.
"Roger, proceeding to eliminate ethereal's." As the two of them rushed forward to deal with the enemies in front, Billy and I fired at the ones that tried to flank them from the side.
Anby soon arrived at the front, sliding on the ground, she swung her sword at the legs, cutting it through it.
As it fell forward, Nicole swung her suitcases, slamming the narrow side like a hammer, she then clicked something on the handle, and the sound of a gunshot was heard.
"What was that?" I asked Billy, who flicked one of his revolvers forward, ejecting the now empty bullet casings.
"Nicole had that thing modded a while back, not only does it fire then millimeters, it contains a small ether canon." He then finished reloaded and swung it close, firing while running towards them.
"Ether can be used as a weapon?" I asked while ejecting the first mag and swapping it with a full mag and inserting it.
"Yup, it powers the city, it's used as weapons, heck, it's even researched for other uses." I then noticed some ethereal's running towards us.
"Billy, we got some running towards us!" I shouted, dodging to the side, I avoided one of them their hand blade missing me by a few inches.
Only to be kicked on the ground by Billy, who then stepped on it and aimed one of his revolvers at the black sphere.
"Bang." As soon as he fired, the enteral was forced to stagger backwards, its body dissolving in front of us.
However, another ethereal soon appeared, trying to swing its blade like appendage, only to stager back from the bullets I shot.
"Oh man, thanks for the save there, Eros." He gave me a thumbs up and soon focused on the battle.
Looking back, both Anby and Nicole were surrounded by ethereal's, I was about to take aim, only to hear Nicole speak.
"Anby, duck!" As soon as she did, Nicole spun around with her suitcase and pressed the handle once again, firing multiple shots at the ethereal's that surrounded them.
Taking the opportunity of the opening, Anby sheathed her sword and ran quickly, unsheathing it quickly and slicing the spheres.
"Alright, good job everyone, now's the time to find the strong box and make some dennys!" Nicole said, how we, before we got far, Belle ran up to her.
"Um, boss, I have to ask, how do you know where the strong box is at?" Billy asked, Nicole only chuckled at his question, waving her finger.
"Sorry Billy, but that's a trade secret." However, she then placed her head on the palm of her hand.
"But since we're on the same side, I guess I can let you in on a little secret." I however already knew how she located the item.
"You have contacts in the association, and you gave them an offer in order for them to locate said strong box?" Hearing this, Nicole only looked at me in shock.
"How did you know?!" She pointed at me, I then rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulder.
"You do remember where I work, no?" Nicole could only open and close her mouth, not coming with an answer.
"Wow, he really called you out Nicole." Anby said, causing her to snap out of her stupor.
"Which side are you on Anby?!" Anby only stared at her.
"The one who leads better." She replied, causing Nicole to puff her chest in pride.
"And by that, I mean Eros." I looked around, because I thought I heard the sound of glass breaking.
"Um, Anby, why did you say that twice?" Belle asked, causing all of us to look at her with confusion.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Are you guys having any problems?" Nicole asked Belle.
"Hm, I don't know, but the problems gone now, just in case, make sure to stay safe." With that, we began to make our way towards the location.
Along the way, we encountered more etheral's that blocked our path, but with the three cunning hares, they were able to deal with them as if it was a normal thing.
Soon, I noticed that the three of them were starting to become more sluggish, and their breathing was becoming shallower.
"Is the ethere becoming harder for you three?" I asked, Anby only glanced at me, trying to steady her breathing.
"Yes, the pressure is getting stronger, we must be getting close the center." She said, meanwhile Billy held his head, as if he was having a head ach.
"Yeah, the resolution on my optics just dropped, it's starting to become a bit blurry." The one who was struggling the most was Belle, the bangboo's visor was glitching and swaying.
"You guys, we think the ether is affecting the H.D.D. We're goanna try to fix the signal on our end, stay safe." The four of us glanced at one another, hoping that the issue would fix itself soon.
POV BELLE
After letting them know about the issues we were having, Wise began to boot up the emergency bug protocol.
However, nothing changed, we tried switching frequencies, different bug removers, heck, even turning it on and off did nothing.
"Wise, do you think?" However, the audio system played someone laughing.
"Took you long enough, guess your not that stupid after all." Looking at the monitor, we saw what looked like an avatar.
"Its and honor to meet the famous proxy, Phaethon." Their voice was disguised, but the sarcasm wasn't, and it was really ticking me off.
"What do you want?" Wise asked the hacker, while signaling me to attempt to hack back. However, the hacker noticed before I could do anything.
"Don't even think about it, seeing that you won't listen, this is your punishment." Soon, a notification popped up.
System notification: Database formatting in progress.
Database formatting complete.
"No, my Alpha database!" I shouted, seeing that he was able to do this the hacker chuckled.
"Now you understand? Just a few taps and I can turn everything your so proud of into meaningless ones and zeros." I could only scowl at the person.
"If you don't want me to delete the whole thing, you better give me the code you got from Silver." The person demanded.
Wise and I could only stay silent to their demand, seeing that we didn't say anything the person sighed.
"You know, the group that you guys have sent, they shouldn't have gone for the strong box." They said.
"And why not? Why should we believe what you say?" I asked them, they only chuckled and spoke.
"You know, I have a small recording I can show you, I'll let you guys have the video function." They replied, not answering my question.
"Video function? But how.." Wise then turned to me with an Idea.
"Belle, the TV." Hearing this, I ran towards the TV and turned it on, as soon as the screen cleared, I could see the four of them, protecting Eous from the etheral's.
"Phaethon, are you sure this is the right way?!" I heard her scream, smacking an etheral away with her weapon, only to receive no response.
"Eros, get Phaethon and hide somewhere, try to see if you can talk som sense into them!" Eous was then lifted up, staring at the ground.
I could hear Eros panting, running past the etheral's to find a spot to hide behind.
Once he stopped, he had Eous face him, his dark blue hair was hanging to the sides, and his eyes full of concern.
"Belle, Wise, anyone?" He asked, staring at Eous, only to receive no reply.
"I don't know what's happening, but if you can hear me, we're in trouble." He said while looking past his hiding spot.
He then pulled out a gun, shooting at the etheral's that got to close, as the barrel of the gun clicked, he soon replaced the empty magazine with a full one.
"Nicole, we need to move!" He fired his gun slowly, taking the time to aim.
"You heard him, let's go!" I heard Nicole in the background, the sounds of etheral's getting louder and louder, the video was then cut off.
'Stay safe you four, we'll fix this soon.' Was my final thought.
[Well now, the siblings are now in a pickle, can they do anything to save my chief, oh, and the three hares too. What? I don't like the pink one, she's broke. Anyways, send them power rocks to show support, Bye, Bye!]